Foundation Will Give Cw Up To $100,000

WILLIAMSBURG — A philanthropic foundation will give up to $100,000 to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to match new or increased donations received between Nov. 15 and Jan. 11, officials said.

The Grainger Foundation, based in the Chicago metropolitan area, agreed in July to match donations raised by CW on a dollar-for-dollar basis, said Lee J. Flory, Grainger's vice president and secretary.

The donations will be used to offset part of CW's operating deficit, said Albert O. Louer, CW's director of media relations.

"We have been in touch with them for several years," Flory said from his office in Skokie, Ill. "This was something that struck us as being worthwhile."

A Dec. 11 letter to prospective donors from CW President Charles Longsworth refers to a gap between the annual $38 million cost of operations for CW's Historic Area and educational programs and the net income from hotels and restaurants.

In the past, annual costs were underwritten, the letter reads, by a single individual, a reference to John D. Rockefeller Jr., the founder of CW who created an endowment that funded operations until the middle 1970s, Louer said. The fundraising program comes at a time when visitation at CW programs is down 10 percent compared to last year.

Most of the time, challenge grants are given for special projects or endowments that carry the grantor's name, Louer said. The program was started this year as a different way to spur previous donors to give more and others to give. The timing of the challenge grant, set in July, is not related to the financial effects of the drop in visitation, Louer said.

The period Nov. 15 to Jan. 11 was selected because donations for charitable contributions are often made at the end of the year, he said.

Under the agreement between the two foundations, only increased amounts from existing donors and amounts from new ones will be matched. For example, if a donor gave $1,000 in 1989 but $1,500 this year, only the $500 would be matched, Flory said.

Grainger Foundation is the philanthropic arm of David W. Grainger of Winnetka, Ill., a member of CW's Raleigh Tavern Society for contributors of at least $5,000 to CW.

According to CW's 1989 annual report, Grainger donated at least $10,000 last year. The Grainger Foundation provides grants mostly to colleges and universities. But grants have been made for other purposes, Flory said.